Gut Check — Score One for Intuition

We really are smarter than we allow ourselves to believe. We know what we know. We just need to have the confidence to believe in our own thoughts and feelings.

Intuition is a powerful thing. Call it a 6th sense, a vibe, a hunch or even ESP. Whatever term you prefer, we feel it in our bones. Unfortunately, we don’t always pay attention to the critical information our bodies are giving us to keep us from making a bad decision or finding ourselves in an unfavorable situation. Our bodies talk to us. Some may call this sensation paranoia. I disagree.

I personally have been in several situations–business, relationships, dating, etc. where my intuition kicked in. In some of those situations, I wished I had listened to that little voice. When I was working for an employer, I knew going through the recruitment process that there was some bad “juju” around the opportunity. I accepted the position anyway because it was a promotion and increase in salary. However, for three years the position offered one bad experience after the other. After three years, the position was eliminated. Luckily, my intuition kicked in about a year before the elimination. I felt it in my bones. And when I had to buy a new car unexpectedly, I purchased the practical pre-owned SUV instead of a sassy little brand new convertible giving myself some breathing room with a manageable payment once I had to live off of unemployment and savings a year later. I’m glad I listened to my gut.

Another example is from a friend who was interviewing with a company as an account executive. The job description was vague, a salary range was not discussed and the employer would not divulge vacation and sick time policies. This circular talk really made my friend apprehensive about the position and something told her that the opportunity wasn’t on the up-and-up. Turns out a friend of hers who worked at the company told her that the organization has churned through over 20 account managers in five years. Boy was she happy, and lucky, to have that kind of confirmation before she made a bad decision. She may have made the right decision to begin with, however, that extra gut check helped my friend realize that she wasn’t nuts or talking herself out of a job for other reasons.

So regardless of the situation, be it personal or professional, while interviewing a babysitter or a potentially non-paying client, use what your body is telling you to help make good decision and hope it works out for the best.

When was a time that intuition saved you from making a bad decision or helped in making a good one?

Laura Nozicka

Laura Nozicka has nearly 20 years of extensive healthcare sales and marketing experience in the Chicago market. At NorthShore University HealthSystem, she was a member of the executive marketing team as the Assistant Vice President of Advertising. Her company, Fuzenology–a services marketing company specializing in healthcare, was launched in 2009. he has served as an adjunct faculty member in the undergraduate and graduate programs at Chicago-based Dominican and Lewis Universities teaching healthcare marketing, marketing strategy and brand management.

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